


Behemoth

by DemonPoxHerondale



Series: Positive-verse [4]
Category: The Dark Artifices Series - Cassandra Clare, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-06
Updated: 2018-08-06
Packaged: 2019-06-22 22:44:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15592425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DemonPoxHerondale/pseuds/DemonPoxHerondale
Summary: This is a one-shot in the series "Positive-verse." Please read the other stories first, as they read chronologically. In this story, Emma and Julian are on their way home from dinner with their son Cal when they encounter a demon.





	Behemoth

Cal was thoroughly enjoying his mac-and-cheese, although more of it was getting on his face, clothes, hands, and the table than actually in his mouth. He grabbed another fistful from his bowl and stuffed it into his mouth, half of it falling into his lap.

 

“You’re a mess,” Emma said fondly, reaching for a napkin to wipe off Cal’s face.

 

“Don’t bother,” Julian said. “He’s just gonna make more of a mess. May as well wait until he’s done.” As if to prove his father’s point, Cal proceeded to smear another glob onto his chin. Emma sighed and put the napkin down.

 

Julian took a bite of his brisket sandwich, and Emma reached across the table with her fork to take some of the meat falling out of the bread.

 

“Hey,” Julian said playfully. “Don’t steal my food.” He then reached across and took a big bite of her avocado melt. They continued to tease each other and eat each others’ food until their waiter came over and asked if they wanted dessert.

 

“I think we do,” Emma said, and ordered the Canter’s special for them to share: a chocolate sundae with hot fudge and a cherry.

 

“Are you finished with your meals?” the waiter asked.

 

“We’re still picking at it for now,” Julian responded, and the waiter nodded and left. Julian started eating Cal’s mac-and-cheese.

 

“Hey!” Emma said sternly. “Don’t take food from our precious child, you big baby. You have your own food.” Jules made a face at her and pointedly took another bite of mac-and-cheese. Emma rolled her eyes.

 

A few minutes later their waiter returned with their ice cream and cleared their plates. Emma and Jules dug in, until Emma remembered that she had a child. She scooped out a big spoonful onto a plate for him, and he grinned and wiped it over his mouth with his hand.

 

Julian and Emma finished off their dessert, and then Julian turned to Cal.

 

“Caligula Jonathan Blackthorn,  you are a disaster,” he said. “A cheesy chocolatey disaster.” He started to attack Cal with a napkin and then gave up. “You need to go to the bathroom to wash up, young man.”

 

Emma giggled as Julian attempted to pick up Cal without getting covered in food. As this was an impossible task, he failed. Emma snorted. Julian fake glared at her.

 

“You wanna take your son to the bathroom?” he asked, holding Cal out toward her. Emma wrinkled her nose.

 

“No way.”

 

Julian laughed. “Fine.”

 

Fifteen minutes later, Cal was cleaned up, the check was paid, and the three of them were walking down the sidewalk outside Canter’s. The sun was setting over the water and the shadows all around them were lengthening. 

 

“It’s getting late,” Julian remarked, sounding nervous.

 

“The sun is just starting to set,” Emma reassured him. “We can make it home.”

 

Even so, Julian scooped Cal into his arms and sped up his pace. They made it a few more blocks before they heard a scream coming from an alley they were passing. Julian and Emma both froze. Another scream followed, and then a chittering sound that Emma knew all too well.

 

“Why?” Emma whined. “Why can we not go out for a nice family dinner,  _ just once,  _ without running into a demon?  Seriously. I just want one peaceful family outing. But no.”

 

“Em,” Julian said. “Get Cal home. I’ll deal with it real quick and be right behind you.”

 

Emma looked at him like he was insane. “You actually think I’m gonna let you walk into an encounter with an unknown number of demons alone down a dark alley? Are you out of your mind?”

 

“It’s not like I’ve never faced a demon before, Em. I’m perfectly capable. Our three-year-old son, on the other hand, is not. And that is why you are going to take him home and keep him safe.”

 

Emma had to admit that he had a point. The last thing she wanted to do was put Cal in any danger. However, she also couldn’t send Julian into danger alone. Not when they had no idea what the danger entailed. 

 

“Hey Cal,” Emma said gently, taking him out of Julian’s arms. “We have to go kill a demon. You know about demons. Mommy and Daddy will be fine, don’t worry, but this is your first time. So you’re gonna be really careful, okay? Can you stay out of the way? And don’t go near it? And Mommy and Daddy will kill it real quick, and--”

 

“Emma, no. Absolutely not. You’re gonna take our son home and be safe, both of you.”

 

“No, I am not. I am going to go with you, and we will get this over with quick. It will be so much better working together, like always.”

 

“Emma, we have a  _ toddler. _ He does not know how to protect himself. Get him out of here now, Emma. I’m not kidding.  _ Go. _ ”

 

“No!” Emma protested. Another scream came out of the alley. “We go now. And we go together. You can either stand here and keep arguing with me, or we can get this done. Your choice. But that person needs help. And they need it now. I’m going.” And with that, she turned and marched into the alley.

 

Julian stalked after her and grabbed the back of her shirt, spinning her around to face him.

 

“I’ll go in the front. You stay behind with Cal, and only intervene if I really need it. Deal?” Julian said brusquely. Emma nodded, and Julian stepped in front of her to see in the shadows of the alley the most disgusting demon in the shadow world-- the Behemoth. He made a sound halfway between a sigh and a groan, then turned back to Emma.

 

“Runes?”

 

Julian nodded silently and took Cal from Emma’s outstretched arms. Emma fished out her stele from her jeans pocket and took Julian’s arm, inking runes of endurance, healing, and night vision into his skin. They glowed faintly with the power of their altered  _ parabatai  _ bond. Once she was done, they switched spots and Julian drew Emma’s runes for her.

 

Then he ran into battle.

 

The Behemoth turned at the sound of his sneakers slapping on the pavement, attention taken away from the person on the ground against the wall. Julian was pretty sure the man was still breathing, but his arm was bent at an unnatural angle and it was bleeding profusely. He wasn’t moving. The Behemoth started slithering toward Julian, who now had a seraph blade drawn. 

 

“Remiel,” he muttered under his breath, and the light blazed. The demon oozed and chittered. Julian grimaced. He  _ hated  _ Behemoths. Why did they have to be so slimy and oozing? Forcing himself to ignore his repulsion, Julian darted forward and plunged the seraph blade into the demon’s side. The Behemoth hardly even reacted, and the light of the seraph blade went out. Julian tossed it aside and whipped out a short knife instead, jumping back. There was really no way to kill this kind of demon with a single good hit. The slime just shifts around and the demon reforms. This was another reason Julian despised them so much. A fight with a Behemoth was exhausting, because you just had to keep attacking until it ran out of energy to keep regenerating.

 

The demon continued to slither closer, and Julian kept backing up. Then he jumped to the side and ran around it, stabbing with his knife on the side without teeth. The demon shuddered and convulsed before reforming. The man against the wall chose that moment to gasp and sit up. The Behemoth immediately dissolved. Julian whirled as it reformed directly in front of the man. He was struggling to his feet, cradling his injured arm against his chest.

 

Julian was too far away to help, and started to sprint over as a knife whizzed past his head and embedded itself in the demon’s back.

 

The Behemoth hissed, and Julian forced himself not to look back at Emma as the demon turned toward him. He didn’t want it to know that he wasn’t alone. He slipped his last  knife out of his belt. The Behemoth, enraged, dispersed and reformed just a few feet away from him. Gripping one knife in each hand, Julian faced the demon. His palms were sweaty. He’d faced demons countless times in the past, but this time was different. This time Cal was with Emma at the entrance of the alley, both of them in danger of being attacked by the demon at any moment. He was so nervous, and that was just making him angrier. He needed to just kill this demon quickly. He took a breath, and when he let it out, he lunged forward with both knives pointed toward the demon. At the last second, it dissolved and reformed right behind him, sinking its teeth into his leg. Julian clenched his jaw as pain exploded in his leg. He collapsed to the ground, rolling onto his back and trying to push himself up to a sitting position.

 

“HEY!” Emma’s voice yelled. “Look over here, you slimy snot monster!”

 

The Behemoth slowly turned away from Julian, and he breathed a sigh of relief before realizing that the demon had just turned toward his girlfriend and son. He hoped Cal was waiting cooperatively by the alley entrance. Of course, that was dangerous too, leaving a three-year-old unattended in a dark alley. But it was safer than this. Julian scrambled to his feet, leaning heavily against the brick side of a building as Emma continued to yell at the demon, waving a thin dagger in the air.

 

“You want some?” she called. “Yeah?” She drove her blade into the part of the demon that most closely resembled the head. It shuddered for a long time before reforming, but it did reform. And Emma’s dagger was buried hilt deep in its slime. She whipped out another knife and met Julian’s eyes over the demon’s head. He felt a pulse in his parabatai rune. 

 

_ This is my last knife,  _ Emma’s voice said in his head.  _ So it better work, or you need to be ready with a plan. _

 

Julian swallowed, his leg screaming in complaint as he hesitantly put some weight on it. Emma took a few steps back, slowly, the demon following. She darted around behind it, slashing at its side as she went. She then turned and threw the knife with all her force into its side.

 

The demon shuddered and spasmed for a very long time. Emma let out a small breath and turned toward Julian, thinking it was over.

 

Then it reformed.

 

“Ugh! Why do you Behemoths have to be so hard to kill!” Emma whined. She looked frantically around for something to use as a weapon and came up empty. She looked down at her hands. “Eugh. I have to touch it, don’t I? I really don’t want to touch it.”

 

She sighed, jumped forward, and punched it hard. Her fist went into the slime, and immediately began to sting. She yanked it out, coated in burns from the demon ichor. She muttered a curse under her breath as the demon pushed her back, completely unaffected by the punch. It backed her over to Julian and he put an arm around her. He used it to pull himself up a little straighter, both of them drawing strength from the contact. Their runes pulsed, and it felt like a burst of energy.

 

But they were still weaponless.

 

“Mommy!” a small voice yelled, and Cal toddled out into the alley. Julian squeezed Emma’s clean hand as fear gripped him. Emma squeezed back, prepared to go to all lengths to keep their son safe. Cal reached his hand forward as the Behemoth turned toward the sound of his voice. A blue-green bolt of lighting shot from his fist, striking the Behemoth right in its open mouth. It froze. Shuddered. And disintegrated, leaving behind a pool of green slime. Emma and Julian looked frantically around them to make sure it wasn’t reforming. It was nowhere to be seen. Finally, the Behemoth was gone.

 

“Mommy!” Cal called. Emma ran forward, scooping Cal into her arms and crying. Cal let out a shriek as his mother’s hand touched his skin, the ichor coating her hand getting all over his back. 

 

“Oh my God,” Emma exclaimed, nearly dropping Cal in her haste to let go of him. Julian had managed to hobble over and he took Cal from Emma’s arms and put him down, then sank to the ground beside him, leaning his back against the wall.

 

“Daddy, you’re hurt!” Cal said, reaching out and putting his hand on his father’s leg. It glowed blue-green, and Julian’s skin mended together. He let out a sigh.

 

“Wow, thanks buddy!” Julian said, pulling Cal onto his lap. “Can you do that for Mommy, too?”

 

“Of course!” Cal said defensively, as if Julian had implied that he couldn’t. He reached up to Emma. She let out a laugh and made eye contact with Julian as she dropped to her knees on the ground. She held her hand out to Cal.

 

“Be careful not to burn yourself again,” Emma said, but Cal just put his little hand over Emma’s and healed her. “Thank you,” she said. “Can you heal yourself too? Does your back still hurt?” She cautiously touched it.

 

“I already fixed that, Mommy,” Cal said.

 

Emma laughed, and kissed Cal’s forehead.

 

Their attention was shifted by a loud cough. “I, uh, hate to interrupt, but would someone care to explain what the heck just happened? And also maybe share some of that healing voodoo?” Emma and Julian whirled around. The injured man was sitting against the wall around ten feet away.

 

“I forgot he was here,” Julian muttered to Emma. “We are really shitty Shadowhunters.” Emma started to giggle and then stopped herself.

 

“Yeah, I forgot too.”

 

Cal climbed off his mother’s lap and ran over to the man. Emma sighed. “We need to work on teaching him stranger danger.”

 

“Eh,” Julian said. “He can fight them off.”

 

They helped each other up and followed Cal. He was already standing by the man’s side, his hand on his broken arm. Seconds later, it was mended and all was well. After an awkward goodbye, Emma, Julian, and Cal walked out of the alley and made their way to the car a few blocks down. Once in the front seat, Emma sighed.

 

“Well, that happened,” she said.

 

“Home?” Julian asked. 

 

Emma nodded. “I’m exhausted after all that. I just wanted one day with my boys. Guess we don’t get that as Shadowhunters.”

 

“Maybe not,” Julian said with a small smile, “but you make the best of it.”


End file.
